Misfortune to Recovery: Pathways
by chels-amazing
Summary: The best way to feel better once a tragedy has happened. How to illistrate such a thing?
1. The Beginning: Accidents

**The Beginning: Accidents**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything. None of the characters, other than Giselle, are mine. Honestly, if I had one of the Cullen men at my mercy, would I really be here writing this?_

Giselle was, by no means, new to the town of Forks, Washington, but she was almost like a stranger, even after living in the vile town for two years. A junior at the local high school now, she was as much a foreigner as when she had first arrived. None of the hubbub had come with her arrival. She was invisible, and she had stayed that way. No one noticed her pass through the hallway, and no one noticed if she missed school. Bodiless and unnoticed, Giselle LeCuyer preferred things this way. Dainty glasses hid blue eyes, and she layered far too many clothes on her small body to keep much of her attractive figure visible. Her hair was a dark, mahogany brown, stained through with shreds of the fluorescent pink it had once been, and it only reached her shoulders. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to dye it; one that – thankfully – no one had noticed. But, despite her very complete lack of interesting qualities, she is still very much a part of this story.

Flipping her pencil nimbly between her fingers, she stared ahead, distinctly bored by the droning of the teacher. Giselle had been here long enough to know the Cullens, and to know that a certain Bella Swan had wormed her way into their family. She was not jealous of her capturing of Edward, nor of the attention of the other boys that she held captive. Both were sitting in front of her – two seats up. But it was not her job to interfere, and she wasn't there to care. Actually, that's what was strange about Giselle.

She was just… _there._

No purpose, no goals, just a dreary existence. She had a job in the local grocery store – a stock girl. This was yet another drab fact to add to her collection of uninteresting trophies of life.

Dragging her waning attention back to the classroom as the bell rang, swiftly breaking her thoughts – or lack thereof, she picked up her things and left the premises. Today was a Friday – thank god – and she would be straight to work in her pathetic old, blue Volkswagen. Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday were her days off – a fact for which she was very glad. The last period of the day, another pleasing truth, was now complete. Shuffling her things to her left hand, her right simultaneously fished in her pocked for her car keys. Finding them, she made her way through the crowd to her car, shoving the key roughly into the door, turning it, and yanking it open.

Now, she was forced to care about Bella, to be the center of attention. In her haste, she had thrown the door open with such force that it had hit the dark-haired girl, pasting her to the ground. Cringing, Giselle threw her things into the backseat of her car, shut the door, and ran to the girl. Of course, though, Edward Cullen was already there.

_Oh my god…_ the only thing to fly through her mind until she was up next to the girl, apologies spilling out of her mouth like word vomit.

"I am **so **sorry…" she finally spit the proper words out, though not in time to earn a glare from the infamous and beautiful Edward. But Bella was already blaming her own clumsiness, and laughing it off.

"There's nothing I can do?" the frantic desire to make things alright. Giselle rarely called any attention to herself, and the stares she was getting flustered her. All of these people who didn't know that she was even alive; all of them were looking at her, horror-stricken. Even when their gazes left her to return to their own lives, she still shook with nervous tremors.

"Calm down…" she heard the words, trying to be comforting. Edward had, evidently, forgiven her. "Are you new here?" That was Bella. Her eyes bounced, looking from one to the other. Nervously, she let out a laugh. "Hardly." Though, in her mind, she couldn't help her amusement. _Unless two years is still new._ Another inner chuckle.

"I've never seen you before." Bella continued, seemingly interested by this new face of someone who was nearly as stammering as herself. Giselle shrugged. "Not many people notice me. I keep out of the way." Distinctly uncomfortable now, she tried to move towards her car, an awkward attempt to end the even more awkward conversation. Bella's Cullen seemed to catch her drift, though the girl herself didn't, and he pulled his girl away, leaving Giselle to breathe a sigh of relief. Embarrassment did not go well with the short girl – barely 5 feet as she was. Going back to her car, she opened the door again, much more carefully – even though the place was mostly cleared out by now – and got in. Her nerves were stimulated and she couldn't help but be a bit jumpy. Carefully starting the car, she pushed lightly on the gas pedal and made her way to work.

**Author's Note: Alright, so this is my first fanfiction in quite a good while, and I'm not going to claim to be very good at it, considering how rusty I am at this business. Yes, I'm aware that it's quite short, but this is just the beginning, and I'm really not sure where I'm going to have this go. I wanted to introduce Giselle, and I'm probably going to have some sort of tragedy befall somebody. I'm honestly not quite sure how I'm going to be going about this. We'll see. Reviews would be lovely, but I'm not going to demand them.  Happy reading!**


	2. Part Two: Careful Consideration

**Part Two: Careful Consideration **

_Disclaimer: I own the book(s), Twilight (and New Moon), about as much as I own your face. (For those of you who think that I **DO** own your face, I don't. Please, go die... After you read&review.)_

**For the record, thoughts (those things that Edward can hear) will be expressed in **_italics_** and **_italics only._** I thought that it was pretty obvious, but apparently, a friend of mine got confused. Just goes to show how intelligent the people are that I associate with. Happy reading!**

**Giselle's POV:**

Walking in the woods was something I enjoyed greatly, which was possibly one of my most interesting qualities. Or rather, unique. It wasn't that I was uninteresting; it was just that I chose not to draw attention to myself, if I could help it. I did not have friends, and I had never desired any. Dressing in unflattering ways and dismissing the concept of contacts kept me date-request-free. (I wasn't stupid. I knew that I could be pretty if I so chose to accent my features. Maybe not as stunning as other girls, but certainly not ugly.) A squish as I avoided a tree, my boots sliding in the mud. There were so many trees, and it was so pretty. And I, unlike most of the girls, didn't mind it when my shoes get muddy because I'd been walking in the rain. It was a fair trade off, I assumed, for the beauty of walking underneath the trees, and having them cry on you. This is what I would do after work, and on days I was off: I walked, and I would walk in one of the few areas that the loggers haven't gotten to yet. Never really been an environmentalist, but I won't lie and say that the chopped trees are a site that I enjoy. It's almost painful to see, actually. Upon stuffing my hands in my pockets, I halted. Mother and Father _would_ worry about me if I got home much later than… I checked my watch. Six O'clock.

_Crap_.

I was already late. Losing track of time here was dreadfully easy. It was never sunny here, and through the shelter of the trees, it was even more difficult than usual to determine how dark it was getting. Cringing, I turned, hearing my shoes squish awkwardly in the mud below them, and headed back home. Getting lost was one of my strong points, which was another reason that I walked in the rain and mud: they recorded my trail for me. The mud was my breadcrumbs, and my feet were Hansel and Gretel, leaving breadcrumbs for the way back home. Fortunately for me, the birds didn't eat my footprints. Sometimes, I was out long enough and it was raining hard enough that the rain had time to wash my tracks away. When that happened, I was kind of screwed. Fortunately, that didn't happen very often, and I wasn't left to my own devices to getting myself un-lost. Shuffling along, I thought to earlier in the day. I wasn't one for making mistakes, or accidents. Perhaps it really was Bella. She was in my P.E. class, and she did seem to attract accidents, a magnet for all of the things that would impair her safety. I couldn't quite figure out why I was so concerned with what had happened. I was forgiven already, or so it had seemed. They wouldn't remember me on Monday, and normally, I wouldn't remember them. My trudging continued, and my thoughts were carried away by the torrents of water falling from the sky as I made my way to my car, which would bring me safely home.

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**Bella's POV:**

Hand in hand, we walked, my heart racing. Such things happen; I suppose I can hardly expect anything different when I'm around someone as striking and as 'dazzling' as Edward Cullen. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that crooked smile – the one that I adored so fully. We were almost there – Edward rarely _walked_ me home. It was usually running, or in his death-trap of a car. I guess today was supposed to be special. Actually, I was a bit proud of myself on this date. Except for that one accident in the parking lot, I had made it through thus-far without any mishaps. That girl – how strange that I had never seen her before, and neither had Edward. It was odd. She, it had seemed, had accomplished the invisibility that I had so longed for upon my arrival.

"So, only two weeks until my graduation." I said with a grin, elbowing Edward in the stomach. He feigned pain, though I knew that if I had used all of the force I was capable of to knee him in the balls, it wouldn't affect him one bit. After recomposing himself, he made a face at me. "Don't remind me." He muttered, grumpy, as he was quite aware of the fact that marriage was still completely out of the question for me. But my decision to wait on the 'holy matrimony' meant that another of the family would be the one to change me. At the last, Edward had caved in, telling me that if it was really what I wanted, he would do the honors. Needless to say, I had readily agreed.

We neared my house, and Edward whispered to me that Charlie was home. I grinned, nonetheless. "But you'll come back later, right?" I asked, though I knew the answer. "Don't I always?" A return question, but it was as much of an answer as I needed. As we stopped, Edward leaned down to press his stony lips against my own, causing a sporadic rise of action from my heart. He smiled into my mouth, but pulled away before I could even move my hands to tangle them in his locks. Sending an air kiss my way, he backed slowly away so that Charlie wouldn't see him. Edward watched me until I entered the house – always concerned for my safety – before turning and taking off. Three hours until I would see him again. Normally, I would stay out later, but I had a Trigonometry test to study for, and I wasn't really in the mood to fail yet another one. I had only just recently salvaged my grade. Destroying it wouldn't be helpful to my GPA – though Plan B, college, wasn't really in the picture now.

Going up to my room, I lay on my bed with my things out before me and prepared myself for an intensive study session.

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**Edward's POV:**

Grasping her hand – it was so warm – we walked in a comfortable silence. Nothing was awkward anymore, not now that she was confident in the fact that I would be staying with her. And I would, after all, stay with her. My adoration for Bella Swan was complete. I would have gone to the ends of the world for her. Or maybe just across the parking lot to fetch a cup of coffee for her – now that's love. A sudden slight pressure in my side alerted me more acutely, if that's even possible, to her presence. Glancing at her, I tuned into her words as I make a point of faking dramatic injury. "So, only two weeks until my graduation." My heart, while it didn't beat any longer, melted with her smile. She could sway me like no other, though normally I considered my resolve to be pretty strong. For the millionth time, I found myself wondering just what was going on in her mind. Bella's face was an open book, and yet her mind, and her thoughts within, was closed to me. It was simultaneously infuriating and endearing. Redirecting my own brain back to her words, I crafted my features into a childish expression and shot her a look. "Don't remind me." My words held a certain bitterness, as I had agreed to be the one to change her. Partially because she wanted it so, and partially because I didn't want anyone else in my family to even touch her so closely, so intimately. Possibly one of the more tragic elements was what Bella was overlooking. I would no longer get to see that crimson blush flush her cheeks. The allure of her blood would disappear – though that could be viewed positively and negatively. She would lose her human appeal, her delicacy, her whole life. To see her go through such pain, and such a sacrifice and loss would be nearly impossible for me to bear. However, I was willing to do anything to make Bella happy. Only just regaining her trust, this would be another positive tally for me.

It was interesting to me how she seemed so unwilling to make me happy. She would strive for my adoration and attention, something which she already had, yet would give no yield on the subject of her transformation – a subject which caused me hours of troubled consideration. Unfair, to say the least. No matter, though, if she was so determined, I would allow her this luxury. Curse, rather, but she was so set on it that I could hardly deny it to her.

And I did get the privilege of spending all of eternity with her. How could I object?

Dragging my attention back to the time at hand, I recognized the road to Charlie's house. Honestly, I don't know why I was so compelled to walk her home this day, instead of our normal run. An attempt at human normalcy, I suppose. This time that I got to spend her was more valuable than gold, and I was building a storage area of my valuable substance. Listening, and looking ahead, I leaned down to her ear.

"Charlie's home." I barely breathed the words out, but I could easily relish in the small shiver that shook her form as I did so. Another grin lit her face as she spoke. I could almost feel the wave of uncertainty that washed over her, as it always did before I left. I could only hope that she would be able to recover from this doubt in me. "But you'll come back later, right?" her words cut through me more swiftly than any werewolf could. I knew that she was aware of my response before I answered, but I did so to relieve her skepticism. "Don't I always?" At this, I stopped her, and gently rested my hands on her waist, bringing her up as I came down to press my lips to hers. A chaste expression of devotion, but I knew that it was all that I would be able to handle. It wasn't hard to hear the quickening pulse as her heart beat more swiftly, a pounding in my ears and hers. Smiling into the softness of her mouth, I pulled away, feeling her ready to entangle herself in my essence. Backing up in order to remove myself from any potential view of Charlie – he still didn't trust me – I blew her a kiss. A human trifle, yes, but one that I knew would cause that flush in her cheeks to rise. So it did.

And then I was off. She was allowed to stay out now, until eight. Normally, I would go home and then circle back at nine o'clock. However, today Bella had explained to me with a disappointed expression on her face that she simply had to study for Trigonometry. I knew she would have liked me to come, but we were both aware that my presence would have done nothing but distract her from her studies. From her absences, she was already in a shaky standing with her grades – especially in that class. I deemed it impossible for me to be there and her actually get any studying done, so I demanded that she go home at six.

It would be a three-hour wait. Not that long, really, but every moment away from Bella was a moment wasted on the world.

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**Author's note: This chapter was mostly plot development, and not very long (my apologies) – get you a bit acquainted with Giselle, set the stage for things happening in the future. Not too much plot content. Mostly a space-filler and a preparatory piece, if you will. Thank you to the few of you who have reviewed. It's helpful, to say the least. If anyone has any plot ideas, or any constructive criticism, please, feel free to share. I'm open to ideas, and any critique you can share on my writing style, etc. will be beneficial to my writing process. And, a hint: The more reviews I get, the more inspired I am to write. You don't have to of course, but it is welcomed and appreciated. I don't really _like_ flames, but if you feel that my work is so terrible that it is worthy of being beaten down, then by all means, go for it. It's been a while since I've really written much of anything, so it's always helpful. : I'm trying to stay in character and whatnot, so we'll see what happens. I have the lose idea for a plot now, but I don't know how I'm going to accomplish it. Thanks to my few readers. Love to you all. **

**-Chelsea**


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